Cotton Factory Smokestack -- Details

I plan to post a link on Clever Models website/discussion, so here’s a little more detail on the construction of the Cotton Factory smokestack.  I’m getting to feel like Dave and Thom Miecznikowski, the Clever Bros!!

I actually stepped off (roughly measured) the base of the smokestack at the factory although I’ve never really planned to make an exact model.  The base was about 12 ½’, square.  I couldn’t measure the height and didn’t necessarily want to use my Boy Scouting skills right there in the parking lot to determine – besides, my wife was with me and she probably would have been more embarrassed than I.  In any case, the 8 ½ X 11” sheet of paper only allows a height of about 70’, so I used that.

I could have pieced the stack together, but for some reason I wanted it all to be one piece.  I did use my “engineering” skills to make a prototype out of typing paper (these days I think it’s called copy paper).  I glued it together with a glue stick, although I didn’t really complete it.  By doing the prototype I was able to gain confidence that it would work.  I also learned I needed to give the top of the stack some glue tabs! 

The “final” model was cut from one sheet of the Clever Models Old Brick (HO-105) texture.  I drew the one-piece stack on the back of the printed cardstock after cutting exactly along the bottom of the printed area from the front; this gave a reference for the rest of the drawing.  There’s a section at the bottom with vertical (not slanting) sides as well as a section at the top with vertical sides.  The full, scale, dimensions are:

Height – roughly 65’, the slanted sides reduced the full height a little

Bottom width – 12.5’

Bottom section height – 10’

Top section width – 6’

Top section height – 5’

I included tabs on the top, cut at 45 degree angles, to give a 1’ rim around the top plus a 1’ “turn-under” for gluing and to give a little depth of field.  In addition to vertical gluing tabs for the top section, I included a gluing tab on the bottom section, and long gluing tabs along one side of each of the four slanted sides.  I used two, horizontal stiffeners on the bottom section, two on the top section, and one in the middle where the width of the slanted sides was about 9’.  Scoring the folds is almost imperative.  I actually scored the horizontal folds of the top section from the inside even though they folded the opposite way.   I just didn’t want the scoring to show.  I used white glue instead of CA since I felt it would take me a while to line every thing up; that was probably a good idea.

On the top section, I added four rows of bricks.  I did this by cutting a length from the old brick texture from Clever Models that was nine layers of brick high.  I scored and folded both sides of this long strip to leave four bricks showing, about one brick, total, was taken up in the two folds, and the rest almost met in the back – glued this together.  Then I just wrapped it around the stack, cut it to fit, and glued it on the stack.

If I really were Thom and Dave Miecznikowski, I would probably do this a little differently.  Working with only one piece was an interested Geometry puzzle, but the gluing was a nightmare for the last side – I was working with glue tabs from two slant sides, two top sections, the bottom section, and five stiffeners.  So, maybe one piece for the bottom section, one for the top, and four separate slanted sides would be a good idea.  By making it from one piece, I ensured that the bricks were all parallel with each other.  The Clever Bros would be able to print all that, piece by piece, and ensure it was lined up.  Since my glue tabs were cut from the brick texture, that helped to hide where they were folded and therefore not have to worry about white cardstock showing.  But, cutting from one piece for me meant I could not run the glue tabs all the way to the bottom of the slant sides.  So, my smokestack tends to have small “cracks” on the sides where there are no glue tabs.

Later:  After driving by the Cotton Factory again, I find that the smokestack doesn’t have vertical sides at the bottom OR the top.  And, instead of a row of bricks at the top, it actually “flares” out a bit.  Oh well, we never said it was going to be an exact replica.  I like it as is!